Louis Croft - I'm Going Away (self-released)

Imagine if The Pogues were a new English band just starting and based in the East Midlands; imagine if The Cropdusters had returned to the musical fray from whatever cow-punk limbo they had been languishing in for the last thirty years. (If you get that reference, then I owe you a drink if we ever meet.) Imagine if hipster banjo-thrashers Mumford and Sons were actually any good. I make these points as they are worthy touchstones for Louis Croft and his new single, “I’m Going Away.”

It is a song that seems to exist at the interface of modern acoustic pop infectiousness and established folk traditions, where the sound of the contemporary music world is pulled back into the timeless orbit of the wanderlust-driven troubadour. As such, it feels both cultish and commercial simultaneously, and that will win kudos from everyone from the bright young pop-picker to the folk police stalwart. (Usually called Brian and found clutching a copy of Liege and Lief.)

Infectious as hell and deftly done, it is a song that connects the solo sound of the singer-songwriter with that of the festival-frenzied folk band, and it isn’t hard to imagine Croft leading a buoyant bunch of musicians in a series of much-deserved encores as the sun goes down behind the stage. And this is the one the crowd have been baying for through out the set.

The opening chords ring out true. Mayhem ensues…

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